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Accessory rooms and new use
The rooms defined as tavern or hobby room are located on the ground floor basement, or even in the cellar. According to the Standard Building Regulations used by all Municipalities, a basement is defined as a floor of a building whose floor is at a lower level (even if only partially) than the ground adjacent to the building and whose ceiling is at a higher level than the ground adjacent to the building.
The basement, however, always according to the RET, is defined as a floor whose ceiling is at a lower level than the ground level adjacent to the building. It is essentially a type of appurtenant room generally intended for storage or warehouse, or in any case for other uses accessory to the home, therefore with parameters that are not included among those foreseen for habitability, both with regard to the height of the ceilings and also for the size of the windows.
However nothing prevents owners from using them differently thus creating an additional living space available to the family and/or guests when the type of premises allows itfor example when it is sufficiently ventilated.
Services first
One of the main interventions carried out by those who intend to make the most of these spaces is that of provide them with a bathroom. Surely then an air conditioning system will be added and therefore the spaces will be redistributed according to needs. In fact, they can be used as a hobby room but also as a study, or have a convivial destination for lunches and dinners when you have many guests, or even be renovated creating a mini apartment equipped with all the comforts.
With the only problem related to the compliance with habitability requirements: if these are not respected, the basement as such will always remain an accessory room and having to sell it will not be possible to resort to the amnesty provided for by the Salva-Casa decree and consider the additional volume as an extension of the home.
The regions have the final say
The recovery of basements for residential purposes, in fact, is an intervention that can be permitted only if provided for by regional legislation. In most cases, the regions have decided in this direction by providing ad hoc provisions that allow for obtaining habitability in the face of specific “reduced” or ad hoc revised requirements, following the model of what happens with the recovery of attics.
For this reason, the provisions on attics are often placed side by side with those on basements. When this is the case, the specific legislation will indicate the cases in which it is possible to derogate from what is provided for by the Ministerial Decree 5 July 1975 with reference to the minimum heights but also with regard to the width of the windows in relation to that of the floors, considering that these are rooms, at least in part, below street level.
Rules that must be respected however, because the Salva-Casa decree does not contain any type of “automatic” simplification for the recovery of these premises in reference to the possibility of changing the intended use for the purpose of expanding the home, expressly calling for compliance with the regulations issued at the regional level. Specific provisions, then, can be included in the municipal master plans.
Change of use and expansion
From this point of view, therefore, There are no shortcuts or simplifications in the decree. So whoever is interested in rectifying the situation has no other way than to check the regional legislation. Moreover, in many regions, recovery is not only permitted but also facilitated, with a view to saving land, exactly as happens for attics.
Obtaining the habitability for the villa, therefore, may be less complicated than expected even without resorting to the innovations of the Salva-Casa decree. Depending on the interventions carried out, in fact, the simple presentation of a CILA in regularization may even be sufficient in all the regions that have already approved laws in this sense in recent years, in parallel with what is provided for attics. To be considered in addition only interventions aimed at energy savingnow required as an essential condition by all local authorities.
